We’ve already seen quite a few ways of performing AJAX calls: web pages, HTTP Handlers and Page Methods. Today we’ll see how to request data from the server using ASP.NET Web Services.

Web Services are a very general model for building applications, and can be implemented for any operation system that supports communication over the Internet. A Web Service is some programmable application logic accessible via standard Web protocols. It is often referred to as Web APIs as well, since they are a set of methods that provide some functionality through remote method calls. It is a way of offering some of your functionality to all of the internet. But, of course, some kind of restrictions and security can be built into your web services, if that’s what you wish.

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